5. The Pentagramc

The secret of this Great Work does not remain for discovery; it has been known and practised by a great number of initiates, above all by the celebrated Apollonius of Tyana, who has left a theory concerning it, as we shall see in the “Ritual”. The secret of magnetic lucidity and the direction of the phenomena of magnetism depend on two things - agreement of minds and complete union of wills, in a direction which is possible and determined by science. This is for the operation of magnetism between two or more persons. Solitary magnetism requires preparations of which we have spoken in, our initial chapter, when enumerating and establishing in all their difficulty the essential qualities of a veritable adept. In the following chapters we shall elucidate further this important and fundamental point. The empire of will over the Astral Light, which is the physical soul of the four elements, is represented in Magic, by the Pentagram, placed at the head of this chapter. The elementary spirits are subservient to this sign when employed with understanding, and by placing it in the circle or on the table of evocations, they can be rendered tractable, which is magically called their imprisonment. Let us explain this marvel briefly. All created beings communicate with one another by signs, and all adhere to a certain number of truths expressed by determinate forms. The perfection of forms increases in proportion to the emancipation of spirits, and those that are not overweighted by the chains of matter, recognize by intuition out of hand whether a sign is the expression of a real power or of a precipitate will. The intelligence of the wise man therefore gives value to his pantacle, as science gives weight to his will, and spirits comprehend this power immediately. Thus, by means of the Pentagram, spirits can be forced to appear in vision, whether in the waking or sleeping state, BY THEMSELVES LEADING BEFORE OUR DIAPHANE THEIR reflection, which exists in the Astral Light, if they have lived, or a reflection analogous to their spiritual logos if they have not lived on EARTH. This explains all visions, and accounts for the dead invariably appearing to seers, either such as they were upon earth, or such as they are in the grave, never as they subsist in a condition which escapes the perceptions of our actual organism. Pregnant women are influenced more than others by the Astral Light, which concurs in the formation of the child, and offers them incessant reminiscences of the forms that abound therein. This explains how it is that women of the highest virtue deceive the malignity of observers by equivocal resemblances. On the fruit of their marriage they impress frequently an image which has struck them in dream, and it is thus that the same physiognomies are perpetuated from generation to generation. The kabalistic usage of the Pentagram can determine therefore the appearance of unborn children, and an initiated woman might endow her son with the characteristics of Nero or Achilles, with those of Louis XIV or Napoleon. We shall indicate the method in our “Ritual”. The Pentagram is called in Kabalah the Sign of the Microcosm, that sign so exalted by Goethe in the beautiful monologue of Faust: “Ah, how do all my senses leap at this sight! I feel the young and sacred pleasure of life quivering in my nerves and veins. Was it a God who traced this sign which stills the vertigo of my soul, fills my poor heart with joy and, in a mysterious rapture, unveils the forces of Nature around me? Am I myself a God? All is so clear to me: I behold in these simple lines the revelation of active Nature to my soul. I realise for the first time the truth of the wise man's words: The world of spirits is not closed! Thy sense is obtuse, thy heart is dead!